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Flush
New member
Username: Flush
Post Number: 4
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 4:23 am: | 
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Had a simple system years ago and had a little fun with it. It was in a jeep mostly for 4x4ing. Here it is 10yrs later and I again have a jeep and bought a Midland 1001z with a Halfbreed 60" antenna on a spring mount above the rear spare tire.. It worked well and I was satisfied for what I intended it for. Well one day I heard some guys talking from Oklahoma, Louisiana, etc to some
locals here in Honolulu. A skip? In any case I was amazed. A few days later a KL-300p and a SWR meeter was ordered. Hooked it up and was getting good reports back from others(6-8 miles).
I haven't heard any long distant talk since then and I'm sure that they were using "big" stuff to transmit.
Back to why I'm here. I don't think I'm getting my full potential of my equipment.
1) At my radio my SWR is 2.5-3 & 1.5 with amp on?
2) At my antenna my SWR is about 3 with amp on or off. I tried to tune the antenna resulting with very small changes in the SWR.
3)I also noticed power/PEP would DK around 1/2 the meter and swing negative when making a sound/talking?
I'm using RG58u from radio to amp and RG8X from amp to ant. Have no short in coax and ran a ground from the antenna mount to the chassis/body. Also have 8ga power and ground to the amp. This radio probably puts out 4w max pep, swing , total. I guess a small stinger board or a better radio would help with the power deal. I was almost going to pick up a KL-500 but figured I should get my current stuff ironed out first. Have a 102" whip but that thing is just to high and hit everything.
Been reading a lot on these forums and may try to figure the velocity for my coax and cut the lenght needed for the two runs. 1/2 wave? I have read two frames of thought on coax where to use the
shortest run possible and others where it has to be in 1/2, 1/4 wavelengths that is determined by the velocity of the wire and may or may not be 3',9', 18' etc. This is really getting interesting for me. I have a understanding of electronics and the needed tools to do the basics. My first project if you call it that was mounting my KL in a remote location and mounting the power/on/off/pre switch in the dash with the led indicator from the amp.
I understand that I wont be doing any "DX"? talk with this set up however I just need some help or guidance on what direction to go. I wonder what kind of power it would take to reach the west coast from here.. lol |
Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 4309
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 6:27 am: |
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Cuting coax ill not change your VSWR.
You need to fix it at the antenna and 3:1 is a loss of more than 30%.
No matter what length of coax you use it isn't going away .... |
Doughboyx
Junior Member
Username: Doughboyx
Post Number: 28
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 10:17 am: |
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If I were you I'd put the steel whip on the Jeep, that's just me. But you could put it on and see if your swr's change for the better. That is what I did, had a coiled antenna on the truck swr's was high about 1.9 to 2.1 with amp on and off. Put the steel whip with the spring on it went from that to 1.1 to 1.4 depends on the band I'm on. I love my steel whip and yes it long and gets banged around it's mine, I don't care what anyone says about it. I put shrink tubing on mine to make it black. Put black marker on the 6 inches that was left.
DoughboyX
aka CEF644 |
Flush
New member
Username: Flush
Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 6:11 pm: |
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Maybe I need a choke next to the antenna? |
Nobodyknows
Intermediate Member
Username: Nobodyknows
Post Number: 170
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 8:36 pm: |
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What kind of antenna? IF halfbreed means it's part one antenna and pieces of another antenna then this could be the problem. A 3 swr is sure to shorten the life of your radio and amp dramatically.
Your radio with that 2 pill amp will give you atleast 20 (in city) miles range and you can easily talk skip with it. The most important part is the antenna, that'll choke out even the best radio and amp combo.
Really need to know all about your antenna mount and what kind of antenna it is and how does the antenna tune? Does it slide up/down with a allen scew holding it? Do the swr's get a little lower or higher when stuck in the mount all the way or slid out as far as it'll go?
Also forget about a accurate watt reading from your meter unless it has a PEP setting or peak.
I've never checked my velocity factors of any of my coax's just tune the antenna for 1.1 to 1.3 swr and lock it down. |
Bruce
Senior Member
Username: Bruce
Post Number: 4314
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 9:20 pm: |
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flush .....
Cut a wire about 100 inch long and connect one end to the coax sheld at the antenna and let the rest just hang down then check your VSWR and see if it changes. IF it does and IF it goes down your truck is too small to be a good ground plane
a choke might help or if your cheep like me find a place to hide the wire ...... |
Flush
New member
Username: Flush
Post Number: 7
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 09, 2007 - 10:59 pm: |
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Will try the wire later.
thanks, keep it coming. |
Hotwire
Senior Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 2167
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 11:51 am: |
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Flush, Your 102 inch whip is a perfect antenna. Only problem is that you must have as much of the antenna above the roof of the vehicle as possible. None of the antenna against the side of the Jeep, blocking signal from escaping.
Jeeps are one of the most complicated vehicles ever to get an antenna mounted right. To do it right your gonna have to drill holes or find a way to clamp a mount somewhere so that the antenna will be high enough over the Jeep. You must have at least 2 thirds of the antenna above the roof. Mount it on the side up high or maybe on the spare tire rack. You may have to fashion a pipe or bracket of some type to attach the antenna mount to and the mount your pipe to the spare tire assembly. Doing this to get the hieght you need. Yes this stuff ends up being a project. Takes work and some clever ideas but you'll get it done.
Also have a look at WildRats Jeep in members pictures. He did a good job with his antenna install.
You have your cb,you have your amp, to run your amp corectly you have to get the cb TUNED to it. Can't just toss an amp inline on a stock cb. Adjustments inside the cb are necassary for best efficiency.
Finally! Man just forget about coax length and velocity factors for now. Thats another chapter. Concentrate on the basics. Just use whatever length coax you need to get from point A to B. Pre made mini 8 jumper of 3 feet and a pre made length of 18 feet mini 8 is the norm. Set for lowest SWR and forget it. Have fun making those contacts!
Kenny
cef491(27.115lsb)
2sf491(27.555usb)
Indiana
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Flush
New member
Username: Flush
Post Number: 8
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 3:07 pm: |
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I will post some pics later. I have my antenna mounted on a steel riser I made that is welded to the spare tire mount on the rear. The base is about the same level as the 3rd brake lite. Can you recmend a good radio that has the PA feature and maybe SSB.
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Tech808
Moderator
Username: Tech808
Post Number: 12699
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 4:06 pm: |
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Flush,
Since you did not mention what kind of radio you were interested in ie:CB or 10 Meter CLICK on the LINKS below.
Since you do not say what kind of radio you want try the LINKS below.
CLICK HERE ® Radios CB Mobile
or
CLICK HERE ® Radios 10 Meter
Hope this helps,
Lon
Tech808
N9CEF
CEF#808/HAM#33
CVC#002
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Hotwire
Senior Member
Username: Hotwire
Post Number: 2168
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 10:28 am: |
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Hey Flush, I get the feeling that your a bit of a beginner. Had a simple setup a while back and just getting back into it now. It is a perfect time to start back. Skip is pretty low now but soon, very soon skip is gonna be intense! By then after some study and research you should have an idea what your doing and what you want. Start back up simple right now. Over the next couple of years when skip is booming back in you may want to go all out.
I recommend just a simple but loaded with features Galaxy 959 or just a plain jane Texas Ranger 966. Both have SSB and both are excellent radios. Get a good tune up done by a REAL tech. Both radios will run a 2 pill amp just fine. Your gonna be in a Jeep so use a noise canceling mic like Astatic 636 or Road King rk56.
Sounds like your on the right track with your antenna mount. Remember that a longer is better. If you off road much use a spring at the base.
Have fun man!
Kenny
cef491(27.115lsb)
2sf491(27.555usb)
Indiana
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Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 3454
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 3:03 pm: |
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-I again have a jeep and bought a Midland 1001z with a Halfbreed 60" antenna on a spring mount above the rear spare tire.-not sure what size or type of spring you are using, but back in the 'olden days', when using 102" whips on SPRINGS, if your SWR's suddenly jumped up to 3:1, you could almost COUNT ON the braided wire inside the spring having rusted through, or in some other way broken or disconnected itself at 1 end or the other. |
Linx
Member
Username: Linx
Post Number: 83
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 3:31 pm: |
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I don't see a need for a spring on a long whip like that. It'll move a lot as is.
Anywho, you need to think about running a low dead key on that radio as well as getting the SWR down. I skimmed through and didn't see anyone recommend retuning the radio, but if you're running to high all it's going to do is cut that performance down as well as potentially kill the amp. If you're looking for a radio to run that KL300 on, then I would recommend a radio is variable power output so you can tune it down to about 2 watts and make that amp sing.
Rob
CEF# 830
Portland, TN
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